Rights groups urge Thailand to halt journalist's deportation to China
Rights groups said Bai Zhaodong could face torture if Thailand sends him back to China, where authorities have pursued him since his reporting exposed corruption tied to senior CCP figures.
Bai Zhaodong has been held at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok since January, and Thai authorities have barred him from leaving the country.
Two human rights groups urged Thailand to stop deporting Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong to China. They warned that he would face political persecution and torture if sent back.
Bai fled China on November 29, 2023, after years of investigative reporting that exposed money laundering and other illicit financial activity involving local officials and senior Communist Party figures. The Yunlin City Public Security Bureau issued an arrest warrant for him in September 2024 on allegations of extortion. Bai had worked as an investigative journalist in China for more than 25 years, most recently with Caixin and Beijing Caijin Magazine.
At least four Chinese dissidents at Suan Phlu face possible deportation to China, and Bai is a 56-year-old former Caixin journalist whose work covered high-level rural corruption and the effects of Xi Jinping’s poverty alleviation campaign. UNHCR has recognized the four detainees as refugees, placing Thailand under obligations not to return them to a country where they fear persecution.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is in China for a July 16-20 visit and is expected to meet Xi Jinping. Human Rights Watch warned that Beijing has increased pressure on Thai authorities ahead of the trip, while Safeguard Defenders urged Thailand to resist pressure to forcibly return people wanted for political persecution. Thailand's record in cases involving China includes the February 2025 transfer of 40 Uyghur men to China, a move condemned by UN human rights officials as a serious violation of international law and the non-refoulement principle.
Thailand is a party to the UN Convention Against Torture and other human-rights treaties. Sunai Phasuk, Human Rights Watch’s senior Thailand adviser: “successive Thai governments have found it easy to set aside Thailand’s international obligations to please Beijing.” Reporters Without Borders counts China as the world’s leading jailer of reporters, with 120 journalists currently detained.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
